Food News Roundup: These Celebrities Were Turned Into Rice Balls
The future is looking bright. Growing fresh produce in your own kitchen is on its way to the mainstream, dogs are now able to lap up some vino, and rice ball portraits are the latest in the internet's weird attempt to show affection for celebrities.
You don't need a green thumb for this farm
Your kitchen herb garden never looked so good. Replantable is a startup that wants to make growing fresh produce in your home as easy as cooking with a slow cooker. The idea is that you can plant a "plant pad" in some water in the Nanofarm, press some buttons on the planter and just let it grow, according to Fast Co.Exist. No maintenance required. The Nanofarm can currently grow beets, radishes, salad greens and herbs. The device is currently in beta testing and will cost $350, with plant pads costing $5. One spring mix salad pad can grow the equivalent amount of a box salad at a grocery store.
Man's best friend can now be a wine connoisseur
From the same people who brought you Pinot Meow come two canine-friendly wines: CharDOGnay and ZinfinTail. Neither vino contains alcohol or grapes, according to the Deccan Chronicle. The wines are brewed with peppermint (ZinFinTail) or chamomile (CharDOGnay), beets and sea salt to give your pup a mellowed-out feeling. So if your pup's had a hard day's night, pour him a glass and give him a scratch behind the ear.
A photo posted by Yujia Hu #theonigiriart (@sakanasushimilano) on
Nice rice ball portraits
We've heard the saying "You are what you eat," but we're not sure if Drake, Carmelo Anthony or Salvador Dalí have eaten many onigiri, or Japanese rice balls. Sakana Sushi in Milan, Italy, has been forming the likeness of these big names out of rice balls, causing a quiet Instagram frenzy. Other familiar faces include Steve Aoki, Jared Leto as Suicide Squad's Joker, John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction, X-Men's Magneto and Game of Thrones' Kahl Drogo.
Japanese culture through the lens of manga
Food, literature and film have always been gateways to understanding a culture. Japan's food manga, or comic books, have been cluing people in for decades. NPR reports that manga constitute about 40 percent of all books published in the country, with food "skyrocketing" as a subject matter. Many comics allude to Japan's hardships during World War II food shortages, when some had to survive on tree bark and sawdust as a flour replacement. Other comics venture into more sophisticated aspects of food culture, such as molecular gastronomy, smoking food and cooking game.